New to OCF and Rigs! Help!

[Lolek]

Hey! Long story short, I'm new to building computer systems from scratch, and to overclocking at all. I've spent the last week juggling prices, researching 'til my eyes hurt, and altogether realizing what kind of massive commitment and learning experience... And I love it!

I'm on a relatively tight budget, but don't be overly concerned about that. The target for this build is a moderately 'future-proof' (as if there is such a thing!), mid-to-high-end machine primarily for 3D rendering/animation (though that'd include 2D digital artwork), gaming is a nice plus, general workstation use, and potentially later use with an audio hobby

For as much as I thought I was educated, and have tried to cram the past week or so, I'm really still in the dark about specifics. It's amazing how everything has to fit together just right!
I'd really appreciate suggestions ("is this good?" and "This would be a better choice~") on the system I've pieced together. The only component I've actually purchased at this point is the case. Everything else is still up for change!

I initially wanted to keep everything below $700, but that was a joke, I soon realized. Now it seems a more realistic estimate (assuming a single GPU, SLI or not) would be $1000-$1200, not even as a maximum. : /
I've been primarily using Newegg. Seems to be the best source for the quality of components I need.

CASE: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS [Bought / $149-$80MIR]
I fell in love. A little bit of an impulse buy, but I doubt I'll regret it. Not much to say here, except it's a MAMMOTH and appears to be highly expandable. if I take good care of it, I could probably recycle it for my next rig.

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-620HK [$190-$20-$30MIR]
ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick
OCF's been most useful here, but I still don't have a clue what I'm doing, what I'm looking for, etc. I rather like the idea of modular cabling, and Corsair is reputable to the best of my knowledge. If I go with an SLI setup (See below), this may be too weak(?) or lack the # of PCI-E connectors needed(?). Suggestions very welcome.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz [$280]
Seemed to be a nice median between the Core2Duo (Meh) and the Core2Duo Extreme (totally out of my price range).

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) [$70]
240-Pin DDR2-800 (PC2 6400)
Heard a lot of good things on OCF about Crucial Ballistix, though most seem to be diehard fans. The price can't be beat, though I just missed the MIR since it was out of stock.

Now it gets interesting! Graphics card and motherboard are pretty closely tied, in my opinion at this point. It seems I have two ways to go.
I can either opt for an SLI setup (or, alternatively, Crossfire. Right now I'm ignorant as to which manufacturer's leading the market) or something more geared toward a single powerful GPU & rounded MB.

For the SLI route:
MOTHERBOARD: EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 [$170]
LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX
Seems popular around here, and seems to be the only motherboard that supports SLI with both running at x16. I'm no rocket scientist, but I must imagine that instantly puts it ahead of any other availaboe nForce boards (650i). I'm also told, despite its review rating on Newegg, the T1 680i is the same as the A1 680i, and so very OC-able~ I'm totally open to suggestions here, though. I haven't found any other board that'd be halfway decent for the kind of rig I want AND support SLI.

GPU: Not a clue.
Naturally, I'd be best going with top-of-theline I imagine (8800?), but that 's damn expensive on its own ($550!), let alone for an SLI setup ($1100 for graphics cards? I don't know how you guys do it!) I don't understand the specific performance options of SLI, though. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what the major benefit to SLI is, except that I'd like to have the option later down the line if it's worth it.

MAX TOTAL: $1800? Jesus christ. I'm starting to get a perspective on this. Though in all fairness, it'd be more like $1200 with a single ultra-high-end card.

For non-SLI setup:
MB: ABIT IP35 Pro [$180]
For "why", I honestly have no reason that it being suggested frequently (and in use) here. I'm totally open.

GPU: SINGLE ultra high-end card (8800)
Obviously, this is the cheaper option. That's really all that needs ot be said. But is the cost to performance, and versatility(!), really worth it?

MAX TOTAL: $1270. Almost 30% less, at cost of upgradability. But is it worth it to go the extra mile?

Again, I really appreciate the time any of you'd dedicate to this project. With any luck, my experiences will be of some use to this forum, so maybe I can eventually give back.

Thanks!
--Lolek

 

[Soichiro]

Frist of all, SLI is a waste of money. I'd suggest a non-SLI setup with a Gigabyte DS3R board (there are others that are good, but that's my personal preference) and a decent video card. I'd say an 8800GTX would be good enough, or even a GTS if you wanted to save a bit of money. There's no need to spend $700 on a video card, honestly. A $300 card should do you just fine for any game on the market.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

In your position I would skip on SLi. Go with a P35 chipset. The Abit IP35 PRO is a great board and so isn't the Asus PK5. There are also other P35 options out there. I hear a lot about the DS3R but have no personal expirence with it.

For video you have a lot of options.

High end (serious gamer at resolutions > 1280x1024) I would suggest:

8800 Ultra
8800 GTX

Mid range (listed in order of prefrence):

New 8800 GTS (due out Dec 11)
8800 GT (if you can find one)
HD3870

Your other choices are solid. You may consider dropping in a low end C2D (E6550) to hold you over till Jan (sell it in Jan). We have a new round of Quads coming that look quite promising. The Q6600 is still a beast of a CPU. If you don't plan on OCing I would be tempted to get a dual at a higher operating freq though. A lot of apps don't use multiple cores (this may change in the next few years) so you will benefit more from less cores and higher clock speed. Check out the E6850.

BTW I am not at all suggesting you wait but there are a few inovations comming in the next 2 months that you may want to take into consideration.

If you decide to go Quad and want to OC you should strongly consider an aftermarket cooler such as the Thermalright Ultra 120 or the Tuniq Tower.

What about hard drives and optical drives? Do you already have those?

If you are going to go Vista I would strongly recommend 4GB of RAM (just 2 of the balli kits).

 

[Lolek]

In your position I would skip on SLi. Go with a P35 chipset. The Abit IP35 PRO is a great board and so isn't the Asus PK5. There are also other P35 options out there. I hear a lot about the DS3R but have no personal expirence with it.

For video you have a lot of options.

High end (serious gamer at resolutions > 1280x1024) I would suggest:

8800 Ultra
8800 GTX

Mid range (listed in order of prefrence):

New 8800 GTS (due out Dec 11)
8800 GT (if you can find one)
HD3870

Your other choices are solid. You may consider dropping in a low end C2D (E6550) to hold you over till Jan (sell it in Jan). We have a new round of Quads coming that look quite promising. The Q6600 is still a beast of a CPU. If you don't plan on OCing I would be tempted to get a dual at a higher operating freq though. A lot of apps don't use multiple cores (this may change in the next few years) so you will benefit more from less cores and higher clock speed. Check out the E6850.

BTW I am not at all suggesting you wait but there are a few inovations comming in the next 2 months that you may want to take into consideration.

If you decide to go Quad and want to OC you should strongly consider an aftermarket cooler such as the Thermalright Ultra 120 or the Tuniq Tower.

What about hard drives and optical drives? Do you already have those?

If you are going to go Vista I would strongly recommend 4GB of RAM (just 2 of the balli kits).

I hadn't heard about the new Quads coming out, but as long as there's not a gigantic jump in price, I may wait for those. I'm on a little bit of a time limit, but I might be able to stretch it.

I definitely plan on overclocking, as I see no particular reason not to.

Yes, I already have HDDs and optical drives, though they're nothing to be proud of. I just figured I could use to cut those corners for the time being, as I have plenty of external storage. My primary HDD isn't 7200rpms, though. I think I'll take the money from that and buy another set of RAM. Even if I don't use Vista exclusively, it could be nice to have.
Or, I could grab a decent audio card. Any suggestions?

I'll look through these motherboard suggestions, and scrap SLI. That'll be much nicer on my wallet.
However, will I need to worry about my PSU? Since I'm only going with one card, and a quad core at best, I'd imagine not... But what if I throw in a cooling system? Does liquid cooling tend to eat up power, or are they relatively low consumption?

Thanks!
--Lolek

 

[JamesXP]

Get a 7200.10 Hardrive, 5400 Is ollllld.

Most pumps use 15-30W...

 

[Immortal_Hero]

What is your current PSU? If you are looking at a quad and a high end vid card you are going to need a good PSU. The HX520 would do and save you a bit of cash.

I don't think liquid cooling will fit your budget. Decent liquid for a quad and 8800 will run you every bit of $300. You can get some high end air and see very similar OC's. Before I would go water I would buy a decent air cooler and spend the remainder on a better CPU or GPU.

A 2.66 GHz Penyrn (the new Quads) will run you ~$300 so not much more than the Q6600. At clock per clock they are only a mild 1% to 5% performance gain but they OC like crazy. Dom here got ahold of one of the extreme models and is doing 4+ GHz pretty easily. Getting one of the current quads to 4 GHz is darn near impossible.

As for a sound card Creative Audigy X-Fi's seem to be the most popular. I am still using a Creative Audigy 2 ZS and I am perfectly happy with it.

I would suggest getting a new 7200 RPM 8/16/32 mb cache SATA drive also.

 

[jhanby]

To cut down costs you could use the new ATI 3870 or 3850 as these are just as good for a fraction of the price. I would also recomend some of the AMD X2 not becasue im biased but becasue there pretty good value for money.

 

[Lolek]

What is your current PSU? If you are looking at a quad and a high end vid card you are going to need a good PSU. The HX520 would do and save you a bit of cash.

I've got the HX620 lined up for the moment. I lke the idea of waiting for the Penryn processors, but will their RELEASED price be in the $300 range? If so, awesome. If nothing else, it might drive down the price on the Q6600 or its 2.66 counterpart.
Will the HX620 be enough to power a potentially high-end card and coming Quads?

Also, something I overlooked initially! If I do go with a Q6600, is the G0 Stepping the new standard, or old? I'm worried about it.

I don't think liquid cooling will fit your budget. Decent liquid for a quad and 8800 will run you every bit of $300. You can get some high end air and see very similar OC's. Before I would go water I would buy a decent air cooler and spend the remainder on a better CPU or GPU.

Ouch... Sounds like it might be a decent investment later on, though. Even so, I might have a larger budget by waiting for the Penryn.

I would suggest getting a new 7200 RPM 8/16/32 mb cache SATA drive also.[/QUOTE]

I'll take a look.

To cut down costs you could use the new ATI 3870 or 3850 as these are just as good for a fraction of the price. I would also recomend some of the AMD X2 not becasue im biased but becasue there pretty good value for money.

My current system (a stock eMachines) runs on AMD, and I've never had any complaints, but can't a motherboard only run AMD or Intel chipsets? I'll feel pretty foolish if I'm wrong about this.

For graphics cards, aside from what was already suggested, it seems there's a huge benefit of the 8800GT over the 8800GTS. Confirm~?

Thanks~
--Lolek

 

[JamesXP]

Stay intel.


8800GT is faster.

 

[Lolek]

Stay intel.


8800GT is faster.

Seems that way. I'm looking at that, or the 8800GTX/Ultra (I figure if I'm going to go all out...)
But something tells me I'd have heat issues with the GTX or Ultra, if I were overclocking without some impressive cooling solutions.


--Lolek

 

[JamesXP]

The stock coolers are pretty good.

 

[Automata]

If you want "ideas" for you Armor, check your inbox

 

[evoted]

when i was looking around for my parts i also consider the GTX but then the 8800GT came out ( and well now is really hard to find ) looking at the reviews and considering that i will be running at "low" res (1280x1024) i decided to go with the GT and is cheaper then the GTX, now the new GTS is coming out that is a lil bit faster then the GT i will go for the GTS, so botton line think of what res you will be running...IMO

 

[Lolek]

when i was looking around for my parts i also consider the GTX but then the 8800GT came out ( and well now is really hard to find ) looking at the reviews and considering that i will be running at "low" res (1280x1024) i decided to go with the GT and is cheaper then the GTX, now the new GTS is coming out that is a lil bit faster then the GT i will go for the GTS, so botton line think of what res you will be running...IMO

yeah, I've been trying to educate myself on the 8800 series (And so, SLI)
I'm starting to lean toward SLI again, but only with the 8800GT. Looks like, for about the same price non-gouged, it'll perform on par or better than the GTX, and apparently supports dual monitors now. I wouldn't have to adjust my build much, really.
My real concern with SLI is--while it gives me a decent boost in GAMING, what about RENDERING/ANIMATION? I must imagine so, but I'd rather be certain.